


The Monster of Rhilmil

by Dynames2308



Series: Rhimilian Tales [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoption, Blood, Bullying, Character Study, Child Abandonment, Father-Daughter Relationship, Female Friendship, Fire, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, POV Female Character, POV Third Person, Time Skips, Unreliable Narrator, Unrequited Crush, but now i've remembered and added one, i was an idiot and forgot to post a summary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23117911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dynames2308/pseuds/Dynames2308
Summary: She is a baby and already they hate her.She is six years old and she is running.She is nine years old and there is blood on her hands and she does not care— They deserved it.She is twelve years old and she has met a girl and she thinks she might be in love.Yni is fourteen years old and she has neither seen nor spoken a word to Seren in over a year.Yni is sixteen years old and she is an orphan only in name— his body may be long buried beside the twisted tree but his memory and the love he gave her will never die.Yni is seventeen years old and she is dying.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Monster Character & Original Female Character
Series: Rhimilian Tales [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856170
Kudos: 1





	The Monster of Rhilmil

She is a baby and already they hate her.

They declare that one with tainted veins such as hers, should never have been born.

That she is a monster.

An "it".

Its red-orange hair, so reminiscent of flames, mark the creature as cursed.

In Their eyes there can be no other explanation.

It is sent away to be raised by one of the nameless ones that inhabit the land or to simply die, alone and unwanted, too young to understand.

It is awfully, terribly afraid.

It is hungry and cold.

It cries out for comfort.

Something finds it.

No, _her._

He lifts her up with great clawed hands and carries her with surprising gentleness.

To food, safety, warmth, love.

To home.

<oOo>

She is six years old and she is running.

Running.

Running.

Running.

Her legs ache and her heart pounds and she gasps for breath.

But she keeps going.

She can't let Them catch her.

Them with Their false smiles and Their barbed words and the pain that They bring.

She wants her papa.

She wants to see him.

She wants him to hold her.

To tell her everything's okay.

She should never have wandered off.

He must be frantic looking for her, searching all over their territory, looking over each and every nook and cranny to find her.

The thought of making him worry makes her speed up.

She trips.

Pain.

Red.

Suddenly, she hears a voice, rough as stone and warm as any flame:

_"I was so worried, Red Flame. Please don't disappear like that again."_

Tears roll down her cheeks.

They feel as though they are burning her skin.

She flings her arms around his neck and buries her tear-stained face in his feathery mane.

"Yes, papa..."

<oOo>

She is nine years old and there is blood on her hands and she does not care— They deserved it.

They hurt her so she hurt Them right back.

It’s only fair.

And if she is called a monster, why, what’s wrong with that?

Her papa is the only family she’s ever known.

He was the one to have found her, raised her, taught her, protected her, accepted her, loved her.

There is no greater compliment than to be recognised as his daughter.

And when she was seven years old her father brought her a gift.

Something They call a "book".

A holder of knowledge.

He told her that while he did not understand its purpose, he sensed that she might find it worthwhile.

He was right.

The book, though its words were unknown to her, fascinated her beyond belief.

And somehow, though she couldn't possibly begin to explain it, she found herself understanding its secrets.

And after understanding, magic followed close behind.

Magic that meant she could bring life to even a mere toy i t She so wished.

<oOo>

She is twelve years old and she has met a girl and she thinks she might be in love.

Her name is Seren Lacus and she is nothing like the people she's used to.

She speaks ever so poshly and is always so careful and precise with how she says even the most common of words.

She says a lot of things she doesn't really understand but is never less than patient and kind when asked to explain.

Her grass-green robes are always perfectly immaculate and there is never do much as a hair out of place in her dark plait.

She is the one who introduced her to the simple act of sewing and in doing so, opened up new possibilities for her in magic.

She is the first person to gift her a name:

Yni.

She tells Seren of her feelings one night when the moon is full.

Silver moonlight reveal the tears in her green eyes— so much like dew resting on a blade of grass.

“I'm sorry.”

She knows that Seren sees her solely as a friend.

That her apology is not ill-meant, but that doesn't stop her from hurting.

Yni turns away from her and without thinking, runs.

Runs until she finds a village.

She begs Them to let her stay.

They refuse.

Argue that a monster such as she is not welcome there, that They had already banished her once.

That night there is blood on her hands yet again.

And that is how Seren finds her.

There is fear in her gorgeous green eyes, real undeniable fear.

She runs and Yni is alone.

In that moment, she hates herself so, so much for making the girl she loves scared of her.

<oOo>

Yni is fourteen years old and she has neither seen nor spoken a word to Seren in over a year.

She is almost glad of this distance.

Almost.

She can still hear Their screams, still feel Their blood sticking to her skin.

After she left the Lacus residence, the Lady Aranae Aneme and her cousin Lord Coreum Aneme allowed her to stay with them in their home.

They instruct her in reading, writing, arithmetic, etiquette, geography, history and magic.

They allow her to wear the Lady's childhood robes- far more beautiful than anything Yni has ever worn before.

The Lord treats her as his equal and as even a beloved friend. ("Please. Call me Corrie" he insists).

They don't explain their reasoning.

Only tell her that their meeting was orchestrated by "fate".

Yni doesn't know what this "fate" is supposed to be but she thinks that maybe it is a good thing.

One day, during one of her lessons, she asks.

The Lady laughs and calls her confusion endearing.

Then says that it is not something she should trouble herself with.

That all she can tell her is that it is a concept so frustratingly simple that you could live a thousand lifetimes and still not understand it.

Life goes on and as the weeks pass Yni almost forgets her curiosity.

But then an odd couple comes to visit the Lady.

An arrogant, smartly-dressed man with a scar on his nose and odd-coloured eyes (the right, brilliant purple, and the left, gleaming gold).

His companion, a serious, silver-haired woman clad in the colourful robes of a story-teller decorated with patches of commoner's cloth.

<oOo>

Yni is sixteen years old and she is an orphan only in name— his body may be long buried beside the twisted tree but his memory and the love he gave her will never die.

She is a girl with magic in her blood.

She is a girl who speaks the tongues of man, spirit and monster as naturally as running water.

She is a girl who crafts unfeeling material into living, breathing creatures.

She is a girl who calls a monster her father because he was the first to value her, the first to see her as herself.

She is a girl who has lived as an outsider since she can remember only to rise up and become one of seven rulers.

She is a girl with a temper that has always been a little too quick to spark, a little too quick to turn into an all-consuming blaze.

She is a girl who has sworn to herself that never again will she seek to punish or kill one who does not truly deserve it.

She was cast aside by her own kind under the belief that she did not deserve to live among them.

It was a monster that saved her from the jaws of an untimely death and then raised her as his daughter.

And thus.

She may have the body of a sorceress, but she has the heart and soul of a monster.

And most importantly, her father's daughter. 

<oOo>

Yni is seventeen years old and she is dying

She is more terrified than she's ever been in her life.

She is trapped.

Surrounded by smoke and fire and the burning ruins of her home.

Huddled in the middle of the room, shrinking away from the dancing flames.

It hurts to breathe.

Smoke fills Yni's lungs.

Stings her eyes to the point of tears.

Coats its acrid tang all over her mouth and tongue.

The crackling of flames is deafening.

They wrap their beautiful, dreadful, awful golden-red ribbons around every available surface.

The places where they meet her skin are in agony.

They singe the sky-blue of her dress black and turn her body bloody, charred and aching.

She thinks how ironic it is for her to be called "Red Flame".

_This... this is a real fire. Compared to it, I feel like nothing._

And not for the first time, she is struck by the wish to be a child again, so her father can make everything right like he always does.

"P-Papa..." She chokes out at last.

And then there is silence but for the flames.


End file.
